Bagging machine

ABSTRACT

A bagging machine comprising means to assemble respective portions into respective bags; means dispensing said bags individually adjacent said assembly means; and means controlling and coordinating the timing and operation of said assembling means and said bag dispensing means.

United States Patent Inventors James D. Elliott Riverside; Alex G.Osika, Springdale, both of, Conn.

Appl. No. 678,574

Filed Oct. 27, 1967 Patented June 1, 1971 Assignee American Machine 8:Foundry Company BAGGING MACHINE 8 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 513/59, 531/167, 53/189, 53/385,141/83 Int. Cl B65b l/32,

B65b 57/10 Field of Search 53/ 1 89,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 12/1938 Mason etal. 177/1075/1945 Stenglein... 53/189 3/1951 Lindstaedtet a1. 53/188 9/1952 Howard177/108X 6/1956 Walldow 53/188 8/1956 Phelps 53/189X 4/1960 Dodd177/109X 1/1962 Dotzenroth 53/189X 5/1961 Stoeckel et a1. 53/126XPrimary Examiner-Theron E. Condon Assistant ExaminerRobert L. SpruillAttorneys-George W. Price and Thomas W. Kennedy ABSTRACT: A baggingmachine comprising means to assemble respective portions into respectivebags; means dispensing said bags individually adjacent said assemblymeans; and

means controlling and coordinating the timing and operation of saidassembling means and said bag dispensing means.

PATENTED JUN 1 197i SHEET 1 BF 3 FIG.2

IBAGGING MACHINE CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS A conventionaldispensing and bagging machine is shown in US. Pat. No. 2,139,903, Masonet al.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION The present invention relates to a baggingmachine and particularly to a portion dispensing and bagging machine, inwhich the portion is made of a plurality of pieces.

In the prior art dispensing and bagging machine, a two-stage weighingsystem was provided and a rigid container was slidably mounted on aconveyor for positioning below the weigher. One problem with the priorart construction was the difficulty of storing a plurality of closedbags and offilling one bag at a time on demand.

SUMMARY The above problem is solved in one embodiment of the presentinvention by using a weighing system having a scale, a portion-bagassembler disposed below the scale, a bag storage unit disposed adjacentthe assembler and a take-away conveyor disposed below the assembler.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS In the following FIGS. like parts are designatedby like numerals.

FIG. l is a front elevation view of one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a portion of the device above section line2-2 on which FIG. 2 is taken; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of FIG. 2.

Referring to FIG. 1, one embodiment of the present invention is aportion and bag storage dispensing and assembling machine I0.

Machine has a material storage and dispensing unit 12, a portionmetering and dispensing unit 14, for dispensing pieces 16 of a materialin portions, a bag storage and dispensing unit 38, a portion and bag 20,a bag conveyor 22, and control means 24, for coordinating units l2, 14,18 and 20.

Storage unit 12 includes a hopper 26 for storing a plurality of saidpieces 16 of material, a vibrator assembly 28 for dispensing the pieces16 in portions by vibrating the hopper 26 as explained hereafter, and asupport structures 30, which sup ports hopper 26 and vibrator 28.

Hopper 26 has a bottom wall 32, a pair of sidewalls 34, 36, and a pairof end walls 38, 40, which together form an open chamber 42, in whichthe food pieces 16 are stored. Wall 34 has an opening 44 through whichthe food pieces 16 are dispensed from chamber 42. Bottom wall 32supports first and second barrier walls 46, 48, which extend upwardlyfrom bottom wall 32 into chamber 42, and which are disposed adjacent toopening 44 for regulating the flow of food pieces 16 from chamber 42 toopening 44.

Vibrator assembly 28 has a mounting plate 50, a pair of front linkassemblies 52, 54, and a pair of rear link assemblies 56, 58, connectingmounting plate 50 to hopper bottom wall 32. Vibrator 28 also has a crankassembly 60 connecting to from link assemblies 52, S4, and an electricmotor 62 for driving crank 60.

Support structure has a pair of sidewalls 64, 66, a pair of end walls66, 70 forming an enclosure 72. Vibrator mounting plate 50 is supportedon support structure 30.

Hopper opening 44 may also have a door 74, which is opened and closed bya door actuator 76 with a solenoid 78. However, door 74 may beeliminated, as explained hereafter.

Support structure 30 may also have a bulk feeding unit 80 disposed abovechamber 42 for ease of feeding material to chamber 42.

The apparatus of this invention may also be equipped with a wastecollector tray 82 with a center plate portion 84 connecting to walls 64,66, 68, and a curb portion 86 extending around center plate 84. Thewaste collection tray 82 is located near the bottom of the supportstructure 30.

A plurality of pieces 16 of material, such as fried potatoes, arevibrated in hopper 26 in such a manner that they move past barrier walls46, 48 and through opening 44 into meter unit 14. When sufficient pieces16 are deposited in meter unit 14, the vibration of hopper 26 isstopped, hopper door 74 is closed, the bag dispenser l8, and bagconveyor 22 are actuated.

Control means 24 includes a switch 88, which is actuated by meter unit14 when sufficient pieces 16 are deposited in meter unit 14, asexplained hereafter, and which controls the vibration of hopper 26, theoperation of bag dispenser l8, and bag conveyor 22. If the reaction timeof switch 88 in meter unit 14 is brief enough, door 74 may beeliminated, since extra pieces 16 would not fall from opening 44 intometer unit 14 with such performance.

Barrier walls 46, 48 are sized, designed, and arranged to accuratelycontrol the flow of pieces 16 to opening 44. Previous attempts atfeeding from a storage hopper into a weighing device have failed due toan inability to maintain a constant feed rate. A full hopper woulddispense product at a much faster rate than one say one-quarter full, orelse would not dispense at all. This variation in rate would bereflected in a variation of weight of portion. The usual way around theproblem has been to use a two-stage system with the storage hopperdispensing into a fine feeder and the fine feeder (usually a vibratorydevice) feeding into the scale.

This invention reduces the complication and expense of the two-stagesystem by making a one-stage system or machine 10 that will do the job.The following physical considerations are important in the design ofthesystem or machine 10.

l. The amplitude of the vibration (or oscillation) of the hopper 26 mustbe great enough so that the relatively springy nature of the pieces 16of product does not absorb all the motion within the mass of the pieces16 of product. With the hopper 26 full to capacity, sufficient movementmust reach the product at the top of the mass to insure movement.

2. The frequency of vibration must be low, so as to not have to requireexcessive force to generate sufficient amplitude, and because thedamping of vibration by the product is much greater at higherfrequencies. in one model of this embodiment 10, the best combination isin the range of about 560 cycles per minute and five-sixteeth inch totalamplitude, with a plus of minus 10 percent variation.

3. Constrictions must be placed in the flow path so that the entire massdoes not move at once to the discharge opening 44. The design of theconstriction is important. It was previously noted that vibratorymovement must reach the top of the mass to insure movement. This isbecause the product at the bottom of any constriction tends to jam. Theconstricted area, therefore, must be topless so that as product movestoward the constriction the actual feed thru is at the top. Theconstricted area may be found to function best if the top and bottomwidths are not the same and depending on the volume of stored productand the nature of the product, it may be neces sary to have severalconstrictions in both series and parallel. In this embodiment, twobarriers 46, 43 are centrally located so that a constriction is formedat each side, for a total of 5 constrictedareas in all. The first fourconstrictions 90, 92, 94, 96 are in series parallel. The lastconstriction is, of course, the opening 44 thru which the pieces 16 arefed to the meter unit 14.

To obtain the amplitude of vibration of hopper 26 mentioned above,hopper 26 is driven by crank assembly 60 and is not shock mounted in anyway. The crank assembly 60 is, in turn, driven preferably by theconstant-speed electric motor 62. By driving in this way, a constantamplitude system, rather than the more common constant force system usedon most vibratory equipment, is provided.

Meter unit 14 includes housing 98, a bracket 100, control switch 88, ascale pivot assembly 102, which is supported by bracket 100, and a scale104 with left and right walls 106, 108 (as illustrated in FIG. 3)supported by scale pivot assembly 102. Walls 106, 108 form a scalecavity 110 into which the pieces 16 of material are dropped. When aspecific weight of pieces 16 is reached, scale pivot assembly 102engages control switch 88 to shut off hopper vibrator 28.

Scale pivot assembly 102 includes a U-shaped channel member 112, a firstpair of opposite, coaxial pivot members 114, 116, which pivotallysupport channel 112 from bracket 100, and a second pair of oppositecoaxial pivot members 118, 120, which are axially offset from the firstpair of pivots 114, 116, and which support scale 104.

Opening 44 is closed by solenoid-operated door 74 that shuts when thescale 104 is filled. The door solenoid 78 and the motor 62 arecontrolled by switch 88 mounted on the scale 104. When the scale 104 isfull, the door 74 is closed and the vibrator 28 is stopped. The door 74has a small mass and therefore closes quickly, while the hopper 26 maycontinue to shake for another second or two.

Control means 24 has a control motor 122 with a gear box 124, which isturned on by scale switch 88, when scale 104 is tipped. Gear box 124 hasa belt 126 connecting to and driving conveyor 22. Gear box 124 has adrive shaft 128 with a crank arm 130, and has an elongate lever 132,which connects to crank arm 130 and which engages scale 104. When scale104 tips, and actuates switch 88, motor 122 turns crank 130 anddisplaces lever 132. Lever 132 pushes a dumping arm 134 on scale 104,thereby dumping the pieces 16 from the scale 104. On scale 104 rotatingthe left scale hopper wall 106 about pivot members 118 and 120 clockwiseas shown in PK]. 3 causes the hopper to open. Right scale hopper wall108 is prevented from so rotating by a stationary stop 500 mounted onbracket 100 and a tab 501 protruding from right hopper wall 108 (shownin H0. 1).

The relative movement between the two hopper walls 106 and 108 producesan opening in the bottom of the scale cavity 110 and permits the pieces16 to fall by gravity into chute 136.

Bag storage and dispensing unit 18 includes a gravity chute 136, whichis disposed below scale 104 and which conveys the pieces 16 from scale104, a sweeper unit 138 to push the pieces 16 through the chute 136, anda bag stripper 142, which urges each bag 144 onto the conveyor.

Chute 136 is slidably supported by a support member 146, fixed tostructure wall 64. Chute 136 has front and rear walls 148, 150, left andright walls 152, 154, forming a passage 156 with an upper inlet opening158 and a lower outlet opening 160. Left wall 152 has an opening 162through which sweeper arm 166 extends to clean out chute 136. Supportmember 146 has a slide track 164 which holds chute 136, so that lever132 can slide chute 136 downward relative to member 146, as explainedhereafter.

Sweeper 138 has an arm 166 with a bearing portion 168, which isjournaled in a bracket 170 mounted on chute 136. Arm 166 turns about itsbearing 168 relative to bracket 170 when chute 136 is displaced. Arm 166pushes through opening 162 and prevents jamming of food pieces 16 inchute 136. Sweeper 138 also includes a rack gear 172 fixedly connectedto structure wall 64, and a cooperating pinion gear 174 fixedlyconnected to arm bearing portion 168 for turning arm 166 when chute 136is displaced.

Chute 136 and lever 132 are connected by a slidable connection 176, sothat lever 132 can displace chute 136 after lever 132 dumps the pieces16 into chute 136 from scale 104.

Bag stripper 142, which moves the filled bag 144 onto conveyor 22, isfixedly connected to chute right wall 154. Stripper 142 has a pusherportion 178, which pushes down on the bag 144, as explained hereafter.

Bag dispenser unit 18 includes an air blast unit 180 for opening the bag144 and a bag holder unit 182 for holding a plurality of the bags 144.Air blast unit 180 has a hollow duct 184 supported by member 146. Duct184 has a bottom wall 186, two sidewalls 188, and two end walls 192,194, which form an air plenum chamber 196. Chamber 196 is supplied by anair blower 198 mounted on wall 190. Duct 184 has an air passage 200connecting the chamber 196 to a duct outlet opening 202, extendingthrough end wall 192 and facing the bag holder unit 182. Air blower 198is actuated by scale switch 88 when scale 104 is tipped to immediatelyopen the bag 144 by sending an air blast through opening 202.

Bag holder unit 182, which is supported by duct end wall 192, has a bagsupport member 204 with two hook portions 206, 208, which extend througha pair of holes 210, 212 in each bag 144. The bag 144, which is first inline and which faces opening 202, is opened by an air blast from theopening 202. Bag holder unit 182 also has a pusher plate 214 with apivot 216, supported by duct end wall 192, and has a tension spring 218,which extends from duct sidewall 188 to pivot 216 and which rotatesplate 214 against the bags 144.

Bag conveyor 22 includes a drive sprocket 220, which is connected togear box 124 by belt 126, and an idler sprocket 222, and a chain 224.Sprockets 220, 222 are rotatably supported by shafts 226, 228 mounted onwall 647 Chain 224 is supported on sprockets 220, 222 and has aplurality of bag carriers 230. Motor 122 positions a carrier 230 underthe bag 144 being filled after switch 88 is actuated. After the bag 144is pushed down by pusher 178 into carrier 230, the carrier 230 continuesto advance and completes its forward step.

Conveyor 22 also has a shutoff switch 232, which is disposed adjacent toidler sprocket 222. When a bag 144 in a carrier 230 reaches and engagesswitch 252, machine 10 is shut off until the bag 144 is removed, inorder to establish the maximum number of bags 144 to be filled andstored awaiting removal.

In operation, the following sequence occurs:

1. Vibrator 28, upon being energized, vibrates hopper 26 and fills scale104. When scale 104 is full and tips, scale 104 engages switch 88, whichshuts off vibrator 28, and closes hopper door 74.

2. Control motor 122 is energized by switch 88 when scale 104 is tipped;and drives conveyor 22 forward a slight distance until a carrier 230 ispositioned below scale 104. Air blower 198 is also energized by switch88 when scale 104 is tipped and immediately opens the end bag 144 in bagdispenser 18 by an air blast. Control motor 122 moves lever 132 downwardso that lever 132 opens scale 104, dropping the food pieces 16 fromscale 104 through chute 136, and into the open bag 144. Lever 132continues to move down urging the pusher portion 178 of stripper 142against the open bag 144 filled with food pieces 16, downward intocarrier 230. Thereafter, carrier 230 again moves forward slightly untilthe conveyor 22 has advanced a full step.

While the present invention has been described in a preferredembodiment, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications can be made therein within the scope of the invention. Itis intended that the appended claims cover all such modifications.

What We claim:

1. A bagging machine comprising means to assemble respective portionsinto respective bags including a material storage and dispensingvibrating hopper having a discharge opening and a plurality of barrierwalls extending upwardly from the bottom of said hopper and laterallyacross the flow path of material in the hopper to form constricted areasin the flow path of the material so that all the material does not moveat once toward the discharge opening; means dispensing said bagsindividually adjacent said assembling means; and means controlling andcoordinating the timing and operation of said assembling means and saidbag dispensing means.

2. The machine in claim 1, including means to convey said filled bagsaway from the assembling means, the operation of said means to conveysaid filled bags, the portion assembling means and the bag dispensingmeans being controlled and coordinated by the controlling andcoordinating means.

3. The machine in claim 2, in which said control means includes a motorconnected to the takeaway conveyor; and an actuator driven by said motorand connected to said assembling means and to said bag dispensing meansfor actuating and coordinating said assembling means and bag dispensingmeans.

4. The machine in claim 1, in which said means assembling respectiveportions into respective bags includes:

a weighing scale connecting to said control means for weighing portionsof food pieces and for actuating said control means when the scale isfilled; and

a gravity chute disposed below said scale and disposed above said bagdispensing means for filling the portions into bags, and

a support structure supporting said scale and chute.

5. The machine in claim 4, in which said means to dispense said bagsindividually includes:

a bag holding means for holding a plurality of bags and for positioninga specific bag below said gravity chute; and

an air blast unit for opening the specific bag after it is positionedfor receiving the portion.

6. The machine in claim 5 in which the chute has a stripper portion fortransferring the filled bag away from the bag holding means.

7. A bagging machine comprising means to assemble respective portionsinto respective bags including a material storage and dispensingvibrating hopper having a discharge opening and a plurality of barrierwalls extending upwardly from the bottom of said hopper to formconstricted areas in the flow path of the material so that all thematerial does not move at once toward the discharge opening; meansdispensing said bags individually adjacent said assembling means; andmeans controlling and coordinating the timing and operation of saidassembling means and said bag dispensing means;

said means assembling respective portions into respective bags includinga weighing scale: connecting to said control means for weighing portionsof food pieces and for actuating said control means when the scale isfilled, and a gravity chute disposed below said scale and disposed abovesaid bag dispensing means for filling the portions into bags, and asupport structure supporting said scale and chute, and means forsweeping the portions disposed in said chute into said bags.

8. A bagging machine comprising means to assemble respective portionsinto respective bags; means dispensing said bags individually adjacentsaid assembling means; and means controlling and coordinating the timingand operation of said assembling means and said bag dispensing means,said assembling means including a weighing scale connected to saidcontrol means for weighing portions of materials to be bagged and foractuating said control means when the scale is filled, a gravity chutedisposed below said scale and above said bag dispensing means forfilling the portions into bags, means for sweeping the portions disposedin said chute into said bags, said sweeping means having an arm with adrive portion rotatably mounted outside said chute and with a sweepingportion disposed inside said chute and a support structure sup portingsaid scale and said chute.

1. A bagging machine comprising means to assemble respective portionsinto respective bags including a material storage and dispensingvibrating hopper having a discharge opening and a plurality of barrierwalls extending upwardly from the bottom of said hopper and laterallyacross the flow path of material in the hopper to form constricted areasin the flow path of the material so that all the material does not moveat once toward the discharge opening; means dispensing said bagsindividually adjacent said assembling means; and means controlling andcoordinating the timing and operation of said assembling means and saidbag dispensing means.
 2. The machine in claim 1, including means toconvey said filled bags away from the assembling means, the operation ofsaid means to convey said filled bags, the portion assembling means andthe bag dispensing means being controlled and coordinated by thecontrolling and coordinating means.
 3. The machine in claim 2, in whichsaid control means includes a motor connected to the takeaway conveyor;and an actuator driven by said motor and connected to said assemblingmeans and to said bag dispensing means for actuating and coordinatingsaid assembling means and bag dispensing means.
 4. The machine in claim1, in which said means assembling respective portions into respectivebags includes: a weighing scale connecting to said control means forweighing portions of food pieces and for actuating said control meanswhen the scale is filled; and a gravity chute disposed below said scaleand disposed above said bag dispensing means for filling the portionsinto bags, and a support structure supporting said scale and chute. 5.The machine in claim 4, in which said means to dispense said bagsindividually includes: a bag holding means for holding a plurality ofbags and for positioning a specific bag below said gravity chute; and anair blast unit for opening the specific bag after it is positioned forreceiving the portion.
 6. The machine in claim 5 in which the chute hasa stripper portion for transferring the filled bag away from the bagholding means.
 7. A bagging machine comprising means to assemblerespective portions into respective bags including a material storageand dispensing vibrating hopper having a discharge opening and aplurality of barrier walls extending upwardly from the bottom of saidhopper to form constricted areas in the flow path of the material sothat all the material does not move at once toward the dischargeopening; means dispensing said bags individually adjacent saidassembling means; and means controlling and coordinating the timing andoperation of said assembling means and said bag dispensing means; saidmeans assembling respective portions into respective bags including aweighing scale connecting to said control means for weighing portions offood pieces and for actuating said control means when the scale isfilled, and a gravity chute disposed below said scale and disposed abovesaid bag dispensing means for filling the portions into bags, and asupport structure supporting said scale and chute, and means forsweeping the portions disposed in said chute into said bags.
 8. Abagging machine comprising means to assemble respective portions intorespective bags; means dispensing said bags individually adjacent saidassembling means; and means controlling and coordinating the timing andoperation of said assembling means and said bag dispensing means, saidassembling means including a weighing scale connected to said controlmeans for weighing portions of materials to be bagged and for actuatingsaid control Means when the scale is filled, a gravity chute disposedbelow said scale and above said bag dispensing means for filling theportions into bags, means for sweeping the portions disposed in saidchute into said bags, said sweeping means having an arm with a driveportion rotatably mounted outside said chute and with a sweeping portiondisposed inside said chute and a support structure supporting said scaleand said chute.